Gears 5 for Windows

There’s a new enemy in this Gears of War game

Gears 5 is a sci-fi third-person shooter game that is the sixth installment of the Gears of War game series. Developed by The Coalition, you play as Kait Diaz this time, who seeks answers about her heritage. She and the rest of the new Delta Squad—recurring popular characters Marcus Fenix, JD Fenix, and Del Walker—have to face off against the Swarm, the new threat after the Locust Horde. You can play in a three-player local split-screen or online cooperative mode.

Gear up

The Gears of War franchise was originally created by Epic Games back in 2006. It first focused on the conflict on planet Sera—between humanity, the subterranean reptilian hominids, known as the Locust Horde, and their mutated counterparts called the Lambent. The Coalition of Ordered Governments or COG deploys soldiers in order to fight off the devastating enemy. 

The first three Gears of War game have disgraced veteran Marcus Fenix as its protagonist, who successfully brings down the Locust Horde with his team after years of war against it. Gears of War: Judgment is a prequel game featuring two of Marcus’ old comrades. Gears of War 4, on the other hand, focuses on Marcus’ son, JD, who defects from COG alongside his best friend Del and helps out the Outsiders as a new type of enemy called the Swarm emerges. 

Now in Gears 5, the story follows Kait Diaz, who became friends with JD and Del in the previous game and joins the fight against the Swarm. The Gears of War series is best known for its over-the-top action movie shooter mayhem that’s reminiscent of the Doom and Duke Nukem games. However, Gears 5 offers more of the narrative this time, and a massively-detailed world you can partially explore.

A bigger world out there

Gears 5 directly follows the events of Gears of War 4, as Kait and her friends become reinstated back into the COG Army and form the new Delta Squad. They’re preparing to launch a space laser weapon in order to decimate the Swarm but as the events unfold, Kait continues to have strange visions about the Swarm, prompting her to investigate her own lineage with the Locust Horde. 

Unlike the previous titles of the series, Gears 5 is more invested in telling a compelling story with its single-player campaign and letting you amass more collectibles as you explore the world. Unfortunately, these new changes aren’t as great as the series’ classic gameplay—the world isn’t fully open and explorable; plus, Kait is a new face that old fans can’t relate to much yet, especially when compared with her veteran teammates. 

Fortunately, Gears 5 offers new multiplayer modes: Horde, Escape, and Versus. Horde is a classic survival mode where you have to defeat waves of increasingly-difficult enemies. Escape is a maze survival mode where you have to escape an enemy hive map with your teammates. You can create custom maps for this with the Map Builder. Lastly, Versus is the classic PvP bracket, offering modes like Tour of Duty, Bootcamp. There are tons of new maps and heroes you can play, as well.

Multiplayer is still great

While Gears 5 is a massive action game compared to previous titles, it still has some drawbacks that are obvious in its single-player campaign. The shooter gameplay has been polished for better multiplayer fun, though, and there are tons of new content for you and your friends to play with. This is a recommended title to try out if you like this genre.